Is that site evil or not? Surf safely with Spoofstick and SiteAdvisor
I’ve been evaluating “Browser HiJack Retaliator“, an Internet Explorer browser hijack prevention tool, which promises real time anti-hijacking, unlike my favorite tool: HiJack This, which prepares a forensic diagnostic report on a computer, but doesn’t attempt to prevent spyware/hijacks in real time. I wanted to download it from a trusted site, but which site to download from ?
I also searched Google for reviews. Retaliator’s user base isn’t huge yet; user ratings are top notch, and SoftPedia rates it very highly, with a safety guarantee to boot. I haven’t installed it, however. I’m not convinced it’s worth trying just yet. What to do to find those really safe sites?
Use a free mozilla browser extension: Spoofstick, to flag ’spoofed’ or fake sites with a red warning! In addition, Site Advisor has been recommended here before! It’s easy to integrate Site Advisor with your browser with mozilla/IE extensions, dugg and rated highly by Digg users.
SiteAdvisor is honest about what it finds. For example, some software sites receive a caution: yes, there are many ’safe’ downloads, but once in a blue moon, a baddie slips in: the ad/irc flood trojan was detected in two downloads, both identified by SiteAdvisor.
Site advisor also provides a unique analysis of a website’s links to other domains.
The downside of rated websites is the possibility that these ratings may steer you away from really good sites and eventually lead to a censored, but safe experience on the web. Will Site Advisor.com Ban Your Domain? is must reading for anyone purchasing a domain. Organizations with info domains have much to lose, if the deluge of splogged info domains increase a likelihood of poorer ratings influenced by the domain name:
“… Another giveaway: Both Some Title and the grave-robbing page it links to had Web addresses in the .info domain. Spammers flock to .info, which was created as an alternative to the crowded .com, because its domain names are cheaper –” [Spam + Blog = Trouble… Charles Mann]
Another tool I really like is Startup List 2.0, which can be found on Spyware Info, a site rated trustworthy by Site Advisor. Startup List 2.0 documents everything your computer does behind your back by compiling a report of all of the policies, registry hacks, and startup locations which truly control your computer. I use it to peek inside my registry without making any changes. I can’t imagine diagnosing a computer without it.
Technorati Tags: security, tools, spyware, siteadvisor, Strider
1 opinion for Is that site evil or not? Surf safely with Spoofstick and SiteAdvisor
The web’s gone phishing and we are the target » Tips and Tricks to help you Master Your Computer
Oct 21, 2006 at 11:22 pm
[…] Related: Phake Lotteries The New Phishing Phad Is that site evil or not? Surf safely with Spoofstick and SiteAdvisor American Express Phishing Alert […]
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